The new job is still in the heart of Honolulu, but it’s in quite a different setting for Kale Ane.
And he’s thrilled.
Not long after resigning as football coach and athletic director at Punahou, Ane applied for and was hired to coach the McKinley football team.
The timing was right. Ane takes over for Pat Silva, who spent three years in the role as the Tigers head coach before deciding to step down recently.
It’s big news when the football coach of one of the most historic private schools in the nation, the place where President Barack Obama played basketball, goes to a struggling public school football program.
Kale Ane is the new McKinley football coach.
(Image credit: Hawaii News Now).
But the humble Ane thinks people should be concentrating on national news instead, such as the fact that Green Bay Packers star quarterback Aaron Rogers opted out of the 2021 football season.
“People were telling me that when I retired (as Punahou’s AD) that it’s great if you have something you enjoy doing,” Ane told BedrockSportsHawaii.com on Thursday. “Well, there aren’t that many other things. I love coaching. It was great timing when the job became available. It’s a great opportunity and there’s more talent here than I thought. It’s a work in progress, but I like what I see.
“Pat did a good job here, and it’s always a new process. I’m grateful for Pat in establishing strong roots here. I’m just happy to be part of coaching high school football in the state. It’s not work. It’s fun. It’s been great to interact with kids and families and have a common goal and hopefully I can provide motivation and inspiration for these kids.”
In going to McKinley, Ane is taking a page out of his dad Charley’s book. Charley, who was once the head coach at Damien, left Oahu to coach a small St. Anthony team on Maui.
“My dad told me that was the greatest thing he ever did in coaching,” Kale Ane said. “They hadn’t won a game or scored a point. I told him that he was crazy. But he was really looking forward to it. They had 25 kids. And he really enjoyed it. I told myself that if I ever got the chance, I’d like to do something like that, too.”
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RELATED: Gary Wirtz Hired As New Waialua Football Coach
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Both Charley (Detroit Lions) and Kale (Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers) played in the NFL.
Ane said there are about 40 kids on the McKinley team. He also said the Tigers will not have a JV squad this year.
“We all know coach Kale at Punahou and what he’s done for that football program and the Ane family name,” McKinley athletic director Bob Morikuni said. “He applied and he was the best candidate. We’re excited to have a very experienced coach to keep building what McKinley has been trying to do.”
In Ane’s last season at Punahou in 2019, the Buffanblu went 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the ILH Open. He led Punahou to six top-tier state championship games since taking over the Buffanblu in 1999, including titles in 2008 and 2013. In 21 seasons, he went 154-67.
A McKinley alumnus, Silva went 6-21 in his three seasons at the helm. In his third game as coach in 2017, the Tigers ended a 26-game losing streak that started in the final game of 2013 with a 22-0 victory over Waialua.
“Pat did a wonderful job,” Morikuni said.
Silva was also the head coach at Roosevelt from 2009 to 2011 (6-26) and at Castle in 1995 and ’96 (15-6-1). In eight seasons at the three schools, he compiled a 27-53-1 mark.
Rick Tune Is An Interim Athletic Director At Punahou
In a side note, Rick Tune, the highly successful boys volleyball coach at Punahou and a former college standout at the University of Hawaii and Stanford, is a new interim AD, filling a spot that opened up when Ane departed.
Tune joins Jeff Meister and Tita Ahuna as Punahou’s ADs.
